Binary Installation

The steps to install a precompiled binary are different for different operating systems, and somewhat different for different distributions of linux. The installer for Mac OS X installs a completely self-contained package that includes copies of all required external libraries. Instructions for installing binary .rpm and .deb packages for Redhat and Debian linux systems instead require the user to install packages containing the FFTW fast Fourier transform and Lapack linear algebra libraries before installing PSCF.

Mac OSX

The procedure for installing PSCF on a Mac using a binary installer is similar to that for installing any application on a Mac:

  • Download the Mac .dmg installer from the PSCF home page. This is a file with a name of the form pscf-<version>-Darwin.dmg.
  • Open the .dmg file, and drag and drop the pscf_terminal icon file into the Applications folder.

To run the program, then simply double click the pscf_terminal application. The pscf_terminal application opens a yellow terminal window from which you can enter standard unix commands to navigate within the directory structure of your Mac, and from which you can invoke the pscf command using the same command interface as you would on a linux machine.

The first time you attempt to run pscf_terminal, Mac OSX security settings will prevent the application from starting because it is from an “Unknown Developer”. You will need to add an exception for this software. The following instructions for how to do this are copied from those provided by Apple at https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18657?locale=en_US:

  1. In the Finder, locate the app you want to open. Don’t use Launchpad to do this. Launchpad doesn’t allow you to access the shortcut menu.
  2. Press the Control key, then click the app icon, then choose Open from the shortcut menu.
  3. Click Open.

This procedures saves the pscf_terminal app as an exception to your security settings, and will allow you to open it in the future by double-clicking on the icon, as for any other registered app.

When the pscf_terminal application opens a yellow terminal window, it also modifies the unix executable search path used in that window so as to allow the pscf command to be found when invoked from that window. This does not, however, allow pscf to be invoked from another terminal. If you install pscf using the .dmg installer file but would also like to be able to run it from the command line of a unix terminal that you open by other means (e.g., using the Mac Terminal app), follow the instructions given in the discussion of Modifying Search Paths.

Ubuntu or Debian Linux

Ubuntu and Debian distributions of the linux operating system both use variants of the debian package management system, which uses .deb package files. To install from binary on Ubuntu:

  • First use the Ubuntu software center graphical installer or the apt-get command line utility to install the following packages:

    • libfftw3-3
    • liblapack3
    • libatlas-base-dev

    To install these packages using apt-get, enter:

    sudo apt-get install libfftw3-3
sudo apt-get install liblapack3
sudo apt-get install libatlas-base-dev

  • Download the .deb package from the PSCF home page. This is a file with a name of the form pscf-<version>-Linux.deb, where <version> denotes a version number string.

  • Install the pscf package by running:

    > sudo dpkg -i pscf-<version>-Linux.deb

  • If the above command fails because of a missing dependence, try running:

    > sudo apt-get install pscf-<version>-Linux.deb

    This sometimes allows apt-get to attempt to fetch missing dependencies.

  • Confirm that the pscf executable has been installed in /usr/local/bin/ by typing:

    > which pscf

    from any directory. The string /usr/local/bin/pscf should be printed to the terminal screen.

Fedora / Redhat Linux

Redhat distributions of the linux operating system, including Fedora and CentOS, use package management systems that use .rpm package files. Instructions are similar to those for Ubuntu/Debian, except for the use of a different package file format and package manager. In this case:

  • Use the yum command line utility or the Fedora graphical package manager to install the following packages from the appropriate Fedora repository:

    • fftw
    • lapack

    To install these packages using yum from the command line, enter:

    > sudo yum install lapack
> sudo yum install fftw

    For Fedora 22 and later, you may use the command “dnf” rather than “yum” to use an updated version of the yum package management system. The command line syntax is identical except for the replacement of the word “yum” by “dnf”.

  • Download the pscf-<version>-Linux.rpm package from the PSCF home page.

  • To install, enter:

    > sudo rpm -Uvh pscf-<version>-Linux.rpm

  • Confirm that the executable has been installed in /usr/local/bin, following the instructions given above for a .deb package.